Deposited cheques at post office gone missing

David1601957

I deposited cheques at my local post office for paying into my bank account. The cheques have gone missing. I rang my bank, but they say that they have no record of the cheques. How do I contact the post office to start tracing the cheques?

David

eskbanker

David1601957 said:

I deposited cheques at my local post office for paying into my bank account. The cheques have gone missing. I rang my bank, but they say that they have no record of the cheques. How do I contact the post office to start tracing the cheques?

Go back and ask them?  Did they give you some sort of receipt?

David1601957

When I left the cheques with them, I got a receipt from my local post office. Today, I asked them what I do. They said that all they do is to pass the cheques to Royal Mail. I asked how to complain about the post office and was told to go to the post office website, they also said that there is no telephone number and no email address for the post office. I went onto the post office website and could not find an email address or telephone number, or anywhere to make a complaint.

Grumpy_chap

David1601957 said:

When I left the cheques with them, I got a receipt from my local post office. Today, I asked them what I do. They said that all they do is to pass the cheques to Royal Mail. I asked how to complain about the post office and was told to go to the post office website, they also said that there is no telephone number and no email address for the post office. I went onto the post office website and could not find an email address or telephone number, or anywhere to make a complaint.

I thought that the days of cheques actually being sent in the post to the originating bank were long gone.
I assume you were using the counter service at the local Post Office to pay the cheques into an account in your name.  My expectation here would be that the details are simply keyed in and the computer takes care of the rest.

Did the person you queried think you were asking about some cheques that you had sent in the post?  Like a cheque as a gift to a family member or such like?

eskbanker

Grumpy_chap said:
My expectation here would be that the details are simply keyed in and the computer takes care of the rest.

Just as well those Post Office computers are so reliable....

My understanding is that cheques are indeed posted to the bank concerned, so Post Office, Royal Mail and the bank will all point fingers at each other if they don't reach the destination, and the upshot seems to be that the only resolution is to get the cheque writer to reissue:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5952313/cheque-lost-between-post-office-and-bank-of-scotland-account

grumbler

For the future - what bank was it? Does it not offer in-app cheque deposits?

David1601957

Cancelling and reissuing the cheques will involve me in paying a fee to the company that issued the cheques. Also the 2 cheques went into separate envelopes at the same time at the same post office. I am concerned that as 2 went missing at the same time, this is more than a coincidence, and that someone is making the same mistake each time. My bank app has a maximum amount to pay cheques in of £1,000, my cheques were more than that.

sausage_time

I gave up depositing cheques at the post office - I had two go missing "deposited" on two separate occasions.

sheramber

When did you hand them in to the Post Office?

sheramber

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/contact-us

David1601957

I paid the cheques in a week ago. My bank thought that they should of gone into my account by now.
A lot of money can be involved in cheques deposited at the post office, bank apps have maximum cheque limits. Paying in cheques at the bank branch is safer as the cheques appear on the bank statement straight away; but bank branches are being closed, and it means that we have to travel further to pay in cheques. Cash paid into a bank account at the post office appears on the bank account straight away. Has Money Saving Expert made representations to the Post Office, Royal Mail and the Banks about this problem of lack of security for cheques deposited at the post office?